Engagement with course content is facilitated by online videos, interactive online activities, curated readings and resources, and self-directed study supported by weekly online 90 minute tutorial sessions.

There are 6 Weekly Modules with learning scaffolded across the modules to ensure that students develop deep discipline knowledge as well as the academic literacy, research skills and capacity to apply and communicate their understanding as specified for an AQF8 level offering.

Students will complete all of the following activities online;

• Read the material presented in MyUni and participate in the interactive exercises, which will expand upon the material more thoroughly.
• Watch the videos that are in the course to learn about key concepts.
• Complete the exercises putting work into practice.
• Participate in the discussion boards & interactive group sessions.
• Attempt all the quizzes for learning purposes and are not graded to assist in parts of the course or ask for help on the discussion boards.
• Complete readings online and use communication tools to interact and expand on content.

Assessment 1: SAQs: The Literature Search Process (800 words) (Weighting 20%):
Students will be assessed on their ability to communicate the steps of a literature search used when planning a systematic review. The research question will be based on an existing systematic review that students will, through their search, be extending to incorporate more recent studies. The purpose of this assessment is for students to demonstrate their ability to appropriately search scientific literature to answer a research question; in this case, a research question posed in a systematic review.

Assessment 2: Report: Formally Assessing the Quality of a Single Study (1500 words) (Weighting 35%):
This report will require students to assess the quality of a psychological intervention trial based on formal criteria developed by Cochrane. The criteria are available to researchers across the health sciences who are completing study quality assessments as part of an evidence synthesis. The criteria are fast becoming the standard of choice across the health sciences, so familiarity with the criteria will enable students to become more discerning consumers of reviews, across a number of health-related fields. Students will draw conclusions about the quality of various features (‘domains’) of the study’s methodology, as specified in the criteria.

Assessment 3: Report: Meta-Analysis, Meta-Synthesis and Future Research Questions (2200 words) (Weighting 45%):
This report will require students to interpret the results of a meta-analysis and comment on the results’ implications for health policy, implications for future research, and connections to findings from a meta-synthesis. The purpose of this assessment is to demonstrate understanding of aggregative statistics in meta-analysis, aggregative qualitative analysis in meta-synthesis, and best-practice for highlighting evidence gaps in scientific writing.

All assessment occurs online: e-submission, checking for academic integrity in written assessments, e-marking and uploading of videos and other content for both summative and formative assessment task.

Assignments will be submitted via Turnitin